Various vehicle control apparatuses are used to determine a power demand to be output to a drive shaft linked to drive wheels according to a vehicle driving state, set a target torque and a target rotation speed of an engine corresponding to the determined power demand, and control the engine and a motor with the setting values. Some vehicle control apparatuses have been proposed to restrict the torque level output from the motor to the drive wheels, in response to the occurrence of a skid on the drive wheels (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 10-304514 and No. 13-295676).
These prior art techniques, however, do not limit the power demand to be output to the drive shaft, while restricting a torque demand to the motor in response to the occurrence of a skid on the drive wheels. This causes a large engine noise beyond the driver's expectation based on the vehicle driving state and makes the driver feel uncomfortable.
In order to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art techniques mentioned above, a vehicle control apparatus of the invention, where a motor is driven by the power of an engine to rotate a drive shaft linked to drive wheels, aims to prevent the driver from feeling uncomfortable under skid control.